AMRITA MUDAN
Mudan's Indian-ish Fish & Banana Blossom Tacos
Friday 26th June 2020
I’ve only eaten fish tacos a couple of times, but from the first bite I fell in loooove. Mexican food has the most beautiful bright fresh flavours, with lots of flavour and spice - which, naturally, ticks all my boxes.
I created this recipe based on what we had in the house, so some things were substituted and compensated by balancing with other ingredients. I would’ve loved to do black beans and guacamole, but we didn’t have the beans or the avocados. I also wanted to make a tomatillo salsa, but we only had tomatoes - personally, I thought it tasted delicious but I’ve also never made a salsa before loool.
For the crema, I used greek yogurt as we didn’t have creme fraiche or sour cream - definitely would be tastier with the former, so if you plan on making this, it’s worth the shopping trip! However, in our case, it was 30 degrees outside, so I was more than happy to substitute than have my dad standing in a queue at Tesco in the heat.
For the Indian-ish part - My dad did the batter for the fish and I don’t think he knows to do a batter that isn’t chock a block with seasoning that inevitably ends up tasting very Indian, so that’s where the Indian part comes in. And I’m very pleased about it, it tasted TOO good. So, it’s optional, but I personally think it’s totally worth it!
For the banana blossom - if you don’t know what this is, it’s the heart of the banana tree, also known as the ‘banana heart’. It’s actually a flower which grows at the end of a banana fruit cluster. How many times have I said banana so far?
It’s a brilliant alternative to fish, it’s soft and flaky and has a similar taste to artichoke on its own, but absorbs flavour really well. It’s surprisingly meaty and has become very popular recently for vegan animal product alternative recipes & dishes, often used as a fish, or if it’s chopped finely it can be used as a mince.
We bought ours in a can, so all you have to do is rinse and pat down so it’s dry before adding it to the batter, so it’s just as easy as preparing the fish.
Also, my ingredients are in North American cup format because I have those cups at home and I typically don’t like weighing things, it takes some of the fun out of things for me. Also because I didn’t weigh anything in this recipe, it’s a closer estimate than if I was to try and guess how many grams were used. So don’t worry if it’s not exact - it doesn’t need to be!
TL;DR - I used some substitutes, the fish batter is the Indian part, and banana blossom is a vegan alternative to fish. Everything weighed is estimated.
Serving: enough for 6 tacos
Ingredients:
Pico de gallo:
4 tomatoes
1 large red onion
6 slices pickled jalapeno
handful of coriander
juice of 3 limes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Salsa:
4 tomatoes
1 large white onion
4 whole limes, without peel
6 cloves garlic
handful of coriander
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp garlic paste
Crema:
4 heaped tbsps greek yogurt (or creme fraiche)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp garlic paste
3 tbsp coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Tortilla:
2 1/2 cup plain flour - or until desired consistency
1 cup water - or until desired consistency
3 tbsp neutral oil
4 tsp baking powder
Fish - any white fish will work.
I used 3 fillets of basa to make 6 tacos
1 can banana blossom for 6 tacos
Batter:
1/2 cup corn flour
2 cups gram flour
1 tsp onion powder
6 cloves garlic, blended
1 tbsp ginger
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin powder
3 cloves
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp carom (ajwain)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp mango powder (amchur)
handful of coriander
2 cups water - or until desired consistency
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
Fry in: Neutral oil - sunflower (can use vegetable, canola, safflower, grapeseed)
Method:
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Chop tomatoes, red onion, coriander and jalapeños. Add lime juice, salt and pepper. Mix together, cover and leave in the fridge.
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Chop tomatoes and onion - it doesn’t have to be chopped if you have a high speed blender. Peel garlic. Chop the skin off the limes - remove as much pith as possible.
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Add tomatoes, onions, garlic, limes, garlic paste, coriander, salt and pepper to blender. Blend thoroughly until smooth - if you like it chunkier, blend for less time.
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Check taste for seasoning and add if needed. Cover and leave in fridge.
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Mix yogurt, lime juice, garlic paste, chopped coriander, salt and pepper in a bowl. Cover and leave in fridge.
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Mix flour, baking powder, water and oil and knead until a smooth ball forms. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest while you fry your fish.
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Heat up oil for frying.
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If you’re doing both vegan and fish, do the banana blossom first.
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Mix all the batter ingredients - see video below for consistency.
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If the batter is too lumpy, you can use a blender to smooth it out.
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Test oil temperature with a chopstick, or drop a tiny bit of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately, it’s ready.
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Coat fish in batter and fry in oil. It shouldn’t take long as fish cooks quickly - around 2-3 minutes should be enough. Do a test piece first to see how long it takes and what colour the batter ends up once it’s cooked through completely. If you follow this exact recipe, it should be quite dark because of all of the seasoning.
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Drain fish on a plate covered in kitchen roll - newspaper underneath the kitchen roll works best to drain all the excess oil.
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Leave fish in a warm area.
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Uncover your dough and make golf ball sized balls.
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Dust surface with flour and roll into a circle - doesn’t matter if it’s perfect!
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Heat up an iron skillet (tava) or if you don’t have one, a frying pan will work.
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Slap the rolled out tortilla between your hands to knock off any excess flour (see video below), and apply to the skillet. Let it cook until golden brown spots form - around 1 minute on each side. The first one might not be perfect, but you’ll find a rhythm.
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Once cooked, leave on a plate covered in kitchen roll.
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Take out the salsa, pico de gallo and crema from the fridge.
Assemble and enjoy!
TIPS:
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Use a cerated knife to chop your tomatoes.
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Use your palm to roll out the limes before chopping them to squeeze. It breaks the membranes inside, therefore releasing more juice!
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Dried coriander won’t taste great. Fresh all the way, even if it’s the frozen leaves it’s far better than dried.
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If your tortilla’s aren’t fluffing up, remove it from the pan and put it directly on the hob flame, as you would with a roti.
